A GIRLS football team in the area is on the brink of folding.

Oswestry Girls’ Football Club Under 16s have been struggling to get enough players, meaning that they could be forced into cancelling fixtures and eventually ceasing to exist.

Last season’s cup winners began the season with a squad of 13 girls, but with some players struggling with injuries and unavailability, the team are now struggling to field enough players for their games.

Coach Dean Aldwinckle is appealing for girls to come along and take part to keep the team alive.

He said: “We knew it might’ve been tough starting the season with a thin squad.

“We pushed for more players, but it was difficult to get the numbers up enough.

“We’ve played three games up to now and three of our girls are set to be unavailable after picking up a few knocks off the pitch – so this has left us with nine fully fit players.”

Dean believes that keeping the club alive is not only vital for Oswestry, but vital for the league in which the team plays too.

The league consists of just four teams, meaning that if Oswestry Girls have to fold, the league could struggle to continue for much longer too.

Dean said: “I’ve been helping out at the club for three or four years now, and I’ve never seen something so unfortunate – we just need to get the numbers up to find our way out of the crisis.

“Not having the right number of players can put our team under a lot of strain – we ended up with eight players at one point in Saturday’s fixture.

“We have 15 games remaining, if it carries on, we may have to fold.

“If we were to fold, it would mean there’s one less opportunity for young girls in the area.

“There are only four teams in the league – if we drop out, it’s not just Oswestry girls club affected but the whole of girls football in the region may struggle to continue.”

Dean hopes that more girls will come forward to take part as it is an excellent opportunity for youngsters to do something fun and beneficial.

“We’re desperately trying to stop the team from folding – we just want to give girls an opportunity to socialise, have fun and keep fit.

“As nice as it is to win, we’re not too focused on that side of things, it’s more about being part of a team and working together.

“We have parties at Christmas and at the end of the season. If we get some wins along the way, it’s an added bonus.

“The team has been running for past five years, and the girls were cup winners last year for the first time in 40 years.”

If any girls in school years 10 and 11 would enjoy playing football on Saturday and training on Tuesday, contact Nigel or Dean on u16dynamos@outlook.com